Scratch Build – In Progress Loricatus by shinji2k

Project Loricatus
Latin for "Armored"​

I'm back!



I like to start off with some kind of representation of what I plan on doing, but I decided to be lazy. This baby's all in my head. On that note...




1/16" sheet with some 1/2" square bar to get started with. I'm going to need a lot more before I'm done.



I went ahead and annealed the bar, but I skipped on the pictures. I've learned my lesson trying to bend tempered aluminum.



Lot's of hammering.





Pain the butt to get them nearly the same shape.









Getting an idea for how it will look?



Hit the table saw to cut out 30 of these guys. A saw blade with a negative rake is a must for aluminum work. Well, unless you like getting metal thrown at you at high speed.



Trued them up a bit.





One down, 29 more to go.

Before I lose my mind cutting out all these pieces, check this out.



What could that be for... Yes, for this project I will be making my own blocks for the video card and CPU. I've always wanted to do that, it's half the reason I bought a mill.

I've been working on a prototype with aluminum.





I'm excited.

 

reserved

 

Me too, this looks off to an awesome start, sweet bends.

 

Lotsa bending in this one. I must be an idiot.

 

Update!

Doesn't look like much, but this took a lot of work.

Finished trimming up the plates.



I should of had someone waterjet these .



Four holes drilled in each of them with the help of a jig.







I trimmed these with a router, ended up having to buy a new chamfer bit to do the second frame piece. Aluminum is hard on wood router bits.





I have to bend each piece by hand to fit, then I need to drill and tap a bunch of holes to fasten these.

But Borderlands is coming out tomorrow, I doubt I'll be doing much work for a week or two .

 

Looking good

I like aluminium it's a great metal to work with

 

Depends on what your doing. But yeah, I like aluminum since you can use the same tools as you would use on plastics or wood.

Update!

I've been distracted lately so I only have a quick update today.







Of course, the second hole I tapped I broke the tap .

Thankfully that is a relatively easy fix, I'll wait until I'm done with this part to fix it just in case I break more. These small taps dissolve pretty quickly in a saturated solution of alum (makes sulfuric acid) and it doesn't harm the aluminum.

I've started to get the hang of bending these evenly, I'll have to go back and touch up the first few I did .

And I'll probably use countersink screws eventually, this is just what I had on hand.

 

This looks like an amazing project. Subbed.

 

Oh yeah, he's back!

 

Thanks!

I've never had an excited gif montage!



I definitely couldn't be a blacksmith, this is hard work bending these plates. I can't help posting a couple more pictures while I take a break.





It's actually coming out exactly like I wanted, I really like how they flare out as the radius tightens up.

 

This is starting to look gorgeous.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

I was planning on getting more done before the next update, but someone forgot to order the aluminum I need for the next step. Since it'll be a few days, here's what I have.

 

Sweet mother of....

Oh yes, this shall be watched in earnest!

 

Since I'm waiting on materials I did some rough modeling of the layout. I'm undecided on whether to go with mitx mobo + short 970 + full size PSU or matx mobo + standard length 970 + SFX PSU.





Since it's a curved case I decided to make use of the unusable spaces and like I did on Baby Moon, just have a small opening on the back for routing cables inside to be plugged in.

But while I figure out the layout I'll work on the bottom panel and side panels which will give me plenty of time to scrounge up some components. But I definitely want the video card to be vertical to help with airflow and show off my custom waterblocks.

 

Oh, yeah! You are deliciously mad! Love it. It looks like the moon rover had a flat. I've drawn up a few wacky segmented projects like that too, but no one liked them. Make the bottom tilt forward and it will look "faster".

Was lorica segmentata taken? Your name is pretty obscure for someone like me that was taught that Lincoln freed the smurfs and FDR was cloned from Teddy. -Little things like Asian history were smashed into a single week too.

 

Did you grow up in Texas? That sounds about right if you did .

I thought about going with that but it seemed kinda long for a name. And because my design is based more on fantasy armor it didn't seem to fit since lorica segmentata have a pretty distinct design.

Anyway, I've been really struggling with the design of the side panels. I think I've finally cracked it so now I'm ready to order some more metal. Here's what I've settled on





Those pieces will of course curve around the whole outer edge. I still haven't decided exactly how the center will be finished off, I'm hoping a panel that's a little concave. I'm also going to source some 5052 for the side panel pieces to make it easier to shape these pieces. I stuck with 6061 for the main shell for strength but I think I can get away with the weaker stuff on the side panels.

 

Baby Moon is one of my favorite projects. The aluminum bending on that was something I'd like to try, if I would not be such a sissy.

Looking forward to see you work on this!

 

When I moved here my 4th grade education placed me at "high school" level.
I think something more mechanical might work with the sides. Too many scales will turn it into an armadillo. It would be an interesting contrast too.

 

I'm glad you like Baby Moon, it came out better than I expected. Metalworking has been something I always wanted to get into so I figured a good way to learn is to incorporate it into casemodding.

That's sad but not entirely surprising.

Figuring out the design has really been kicking my butt. Some other people have also expressed concern about too many scales. I wanted something to overlap the screws and seam and to transition smoothly to the side panel. I tried making a side panel with a slight curve in the style of the lorica segmentata and the proportions just didn't seem right to me. The case is a little bit narrower than I first pictured so I figured extending the curve would make it look a little better without making the case too wide. I have a couple ideas for the center of the side panels, the one I'm thinking of going with would just be a solid panel that's a little concave with a hammer finish.

I've also considering making the scales a little smaller. If it looks like crap I can always try something else.

 

what about lapping sheets to make something like this


you could still concave or convex if you wonted to